We don’t know what we have as Ghanaians - KKD

Popular Ghanaian broadcast journalist, disc jockey, cultural icon, and fashion aficionado, Kwasi Kyei Darkwah, affectionately known as KKD has pointed out that Ghanaians, especially our music artistes do not know what they have when it comes to musical history and acclaim on the global stage.

The debonair media and cultural aficionado said this on the heels of a section of Ghanaians taking to social media to rain criticisms on Ghanaian musicians for not breaking international musical boundaries such as the Grammys unlike their Nigerian counterparts, in an interview with Crystal Karyee on Simply Showbiz on TV3, Saturday, March 20.

KKD pointed out that when it comes to music, Ghana was a leap ahead of Nigeria years before they started catching up with us when they usurped our genre to promote it to the level they are now due to our own lackadaisical attitude towards what we have.

“If you know what you have, if your grandfather has left you a pot of gold, you don’t leave the pot of gold to go and chase brass, Ghanaians play great music, not only Highlife music, we play great Reggae music, Reggae is Caribbean and Caribbean is African, Ghanaians play great Bossa nova, if we tend to go that way, we are very good imitators of Zook, which comes from our Francophone brothers and sisters, we are very good imitators of Zyko, that has been done way back in the day when our bands used to play copyright, however, we should not lose what is known to be Ghanaian, which is Highlife music” he emphasized.

“Whatever every Ghanaian musician plays, wherever we transport ourselves to, we should not lose the Highlife music but also I want to make a point about how we have people making incendiary commentary about ourselves, we are at a stage, post-independence where we must learn to look at the good in us and promote that. You see when you and I have a conversation privately when my brother and I have discussions about the music industry, not just in Ghana because we’re both Pan-Africans, in Africa, we speak very critically, I doubt if we will speak that way here today”.

He further said, “when we are on air(TV), we are talking to everybody in the world and only a fool will wash their dirty linen in public, we must learn to look for the good things our brothers have been able to achieve and start looking for ways to build on those, I’m happy to see the likes of Sarkodie and Manifest, I’m so enthused to hear the sound of Kofi Kinaata, I’m so delighted to see what Okyeame Kwame is doing, I’m very proud to see what Kuame Eugene is doing, I’m very very happy to see what even Medikal is doing even though sometimes he goes a bit incendiary with his craft, the point is we have good people who can carry the torch that was lit way before independence”.

KKD admonished Ghanaians to ask themselves whether they are going to spend their time talking about people who do them no pride or are they going to find ways to elevate those who will bring honor and renown to them?

He further called on DJs and social media influencers to educate, entertain, inform and elevate people who are not stealing but rather working hard with worn-out tools without any help from the public purse and an organized industry in the country’s music landscape.